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This iconic fighting game retains many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its initial debut in arcades. A new collection covering the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the making of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. This compilation features simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of certain releases. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and brand founders the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of actual people, on the fly. Watching the documentary — containing vintage recordings, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to see a group of early video game creators, working with minimal planning or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant pressure to repeat their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece made from VHS tapes and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the original releases. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unbalanced the coding existed in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking a human opponent — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a few small quirks — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and display customization choices. For example, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and choose to enable unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute some esoteric trick to obtain them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the CRT monitors of arcades or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that lets you revisit the music from multiple combat titles without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version never gained traction, in part